Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Obligatory Record Of The Day! Mark Lanegan Band - Sad Lover

Single review by KevW

It's not all misery and gravelly vocals when it comes to alt-rock legend Mark Lanegan, although some people might paint it that way. Along with a career that has encompassed numerous collaborations and seen him be a member of various groups, the Mark Lanegan Band has been the chosen name for what could be considered his solo work for a decade now, and they've been busy. A new album, 'Phantom Radio', is due to be released in the autumn, with an EP prior to that on August 25th. Titled 'No Bells On Sunday', the EP's first offering might just banish a few preconceptions about the man's sound.

Having been a big player in the grunge scene and later working with Queens Of The Stone Age, you could expect something fairly heavy and noisy, and to a certain extent that's true of 'Sad Lover'. However, despite its name, the song is upbeat and driving, not dirgy or overly gruff. The Tom Waits comparisons can be thrown away on this one. A buoyant track, 'Sad Lover' has a lightly psychedelic air to it, along with the whispers of desert-rock and distortion that you may expect. It's also surprisingly melodic and grabs your attention on first listen which, compared to certain records in his back-catalogue, is something of a rarity, despite how good they've sounded after they've had time to embed themselves properly. We're not talking Mark Lanegan goes pop or anything particularly close, but this is quite possibly one of his best and most rewarding singles for some time.